Prioritize to Live Through

Dress: thrifted (from a trip this weekend with Lisa, Megan, and Emily - I let myself spend as much on thrift store stuff as I would have spent on gas to visit Joe, so I'm considering this a temporary, and acceptable, respite from the ban) * Belt: thrifted, remixed * Heels: Swedish Hasbeens, remixed * Bike necklace: remixed

It's been a weird week. It has felt slow, fast, busy, dragging, good, bad, fun, boring, productive, lazy, healthy, and lethargic all at once (or rather, back and forth. I think I might actually spontaneously combust if I felt all those things at one time). This morning I feel tired, happy that it's Thursday, but anxious about the day. I have meetings all morning, and still plenty to do this afternoon. It quite often feels like there aren't enough hours in the day, and I don't like the feeling that I'm not accomplishing everything that I've set out to accomplish.

I think that one of the most major challenges of being a grown-up -- whether in school, at work, with family, or anything else -- is figuring out how to prioritize your time. Learning that certain things, certain tasks, certain goals, just won't get accomplished, and learning that that is okay, is a major hurdle for most people. We want to do everything, complete everything, conquer the world. And I'm all about lofty goals and optimistic aspirations. But usually, in life, there is more to do than there is time to do it. So a bit of prioritizing is in order. I think that many people choose to let their relationships lie on the backburner in favor of being productive and accomplished at work. It's the trademark of the corporate workaholic, of course, but I think students and less "business-y" folk do it as well.

I was talking with two of the people I have been working with yesterday, and had to remind them that letting their social life completely drop off would be a mistake. They were more than willing to sacrifice friends, boyfriends, and, seemingly, fun, just to get their list of tasks completed. It really worried me, actually, because I think you can really put things into jeopardy if you stop paying attention to the people in your life. To me, my life is only as good as the people I share it with. Far be it for me to say how someone else should live their life, but I hope a piece of my advice got through to them. It's a hard thing to do, this prioritizing. Letting go of a goal, or cutting back on work, or doing something only halfway (or half as well as you'd like to do it), is a hard pill to swallow for most of us. But I think it's a hard pill to avoid, and it's best to come at it with a plan, knowing what you're willing to cut back on in favor of more important things.

Title song: Outkast, "Red Velvet"